Rage
by HecateA
Summary: Hope Lupin knows very little about this world of magic she married into, but she knows that there will be hell to pay as soon as she finds the person responsible for her son's injury. Her eventual target, however, was unexpected. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Welp, this was intense to write. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **Sick child

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): **Cuppa; More Than England; Creature People; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Change); Themes & Things B (Betrayal); Themes & Things C (Blanket); Tiny Terror; True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **1522

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_**Hogwarts Submitting Info**_

**House: **Ravenclaw

**Assignment: **Assignment #2, Task 2 - Weight Machines - Write about someone feeling like they're carrying 'the weight of the world' on their shoulders.

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**Rage**

_You can stand over there if you want_

_I don't know who you are_

_I have so much to learn_

_I'm re-reading your letters_

_And watching them burn (burn)_

—_First Burn,_ Lin-Manuel Miranda

"I don't want it," Hope whispered again, when she saw her husband approach with yet another cup of coffee, out of the corner of her eye. Lyall was a wanderer, an adventurer, a collector. This constant influx of coffee he brought back to the hospital room and his rounds of the ward weren't a surprising coping mechanism for him to use, but she couldn't understand it—nor could she find the patience that that thing called _love _usually generated. She was too busy looking at Remus, refusing to look away from her son and quite possibly physically unable to.

He was curled up in the hospital bed, which seemed far too big. St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries did not have a children's ward like other hospitals, quite possibly because the kinds of accidents it specialized in did not… were not supposed to happen to children.

"How is he?" Lyall whispered quietly.

"He hasn't woken up," Hope said. She reached out and her fingertips traced the back of Remus' hand. He inched away, as if it was ticklish. She sighed, trying to find relief in this. That was something, at least.

His other side—the left side of his body—was profusely bandaged. Every half hour, the doctors—no, _Healers—_came in and trickled a potion into his mouth to replenish his blood supply and protect the wound from infection. Hope was thankful that there were no wires and tubes involved in her son's care, at least. She thought that that may have been the only thing in the world that could make this situation any scarier.

Despite the hospital lighting shining down from above them, he slept peacefully. Even if they hadn't brought that stuffed bear of his with them. Hope hadn't even thought of it; had just scooped up Remus and told Lyall to bring them somewhere safe in whatever way he could, somewhere where they could get help. Watching Remus now, sleeping soundly in the hospital gown he'd been changed into, she wondered just how much it would take for that little body to recover from such a big…

Lyall sighed and put the cups of coffee he'd collected down and sat on the edge of Remus' bed. Hope couldn't read the look on his face because she'd never seen it before—there was a mixture of sorrow, confusion, hurt, and something else she couldn't quite pinpoint. It may have been… remorse?

"The Healers said the wound is healing quite well," Lyall said.

"It is?" Hope said, her heart blossoming for a second.

"I mean… as well as it ever will," Lyall said.

"For God's sake," Hope said, breathing out abruptly and leaning back in her chair. "Don't say things like that!"

"Like what?" Lyall asked.

"Things that make it seem as if I misunderstood it all and this might not be so bad," Hope said, her raspy voice cracking as she said the words. She dropped Remus' hand and covered her mouth, blinking away tears she'd been too scared to shed—even after Lyall had pushed that awful beast away, after they'd brought Remus here, after those magical detectives had promised to keep them safe, after the doctors—_Healers—_had told them that Remus was stable…

"Love…" Lyall said, getting up and coming to her.

"No," she said, turning away. "Don't touch me."

Lyall froze before trying again. "Hope?"

She wiped at the tears in her eyes and looked up to him again, taking a deep breath to compose herself before speaking.

"There's a lot I don't understand," she confessed. "But the thing I understand the least is… is how you were able to tell them who the man that bit Remus was even if you didn't see him as a human."

As Lyall became paler, Hope's stomach sank.

Hope didn't look away.

"I know it's been a long night," she said carefully—carefully because if she didn't, she may completely collapse. "But I don't think you understand how badly I need you to answer that question."

She gave him a second.

"The longer you search for your words Lyall, the more I worry about what you'll find," Hope said. He winced at the edge on her tone, but Hope didn't care. She felt her lower lip tremble. "What did you say his name was?" Hope prodded. "The… the werewolf who did this to him?"

"Fenrir Greyback," Lyall said quietly.

"Fenrir Greyback," Hope repeated. She immediately decided that the words were poison in her mouth. Her lips formed the words like a sacrilege, and they tasted spoiled. "And how do you know Fenrir Greyback? Is he… is he well known?"

"No," Lyall said. He swallowed hard. "The Ministry didn't know that he was a werewolf. That's why… that's why those men came to talk to me, after Remus was stable, to open a case."

"But you did?" Hope said.

Lyall's lip shook. "I tried to tell them. He was brought in one day and I told them what he was, what he was capable of, what kind of a monster he…"

"Monster?" Hope interrupted, suddenly standing. "Don't call him a monster, not now that our son is… our son is like him now."

Lyall looked away and Hope realized he was blinking back tears.

"Did you call Fenrir Greyback that?" Hope said. "In front of him, when he got brought it?"

Lyall didn't answer.

"Damn it, Lyall!"

She startled him.

"Be honest with me," she said. There were sobs in her voice, but she knew that her voice—and her intentions—were still crystal clear. He heard her. And so he answered.

"Yes," Lyall said quietly.

"And then he came for our son," Hope said plainly, finishing the sequence of events.

When Lyall exhaled, it sounded vaguely like a whimper.

"I didn't imagine that this could happen," Lyall said. "I didn't mean to..."

"You didn't mean to," Hope repeated, unbelieving. "You didn't mean to what? Oh… well, no matter, if you didn't mean to, then!"

"Hope," he pled.

"I don't understand," Hope spat at him. "I don't understand how the man I promised to spend the rest of my life with could have been so cruel that _this _would happen."

"Hope, my love, you don't understand," Lyall said, shaking his head. "Werewolves are…"

"You're right, I don't understand," Hope said, throwing her hands in the air. "You know what Lyall, you are exactly right on that one. I don't understand: because five hours ago, I didn't know there was a magical hospital and I didn't know that werewolves were real, and now look where we are."

Lyall shut his eyes, but Hope wasn't done. If he wouldn't look at her, then he would hear her.

"I don't understand this world," Hope said. "I'm Muggle, how could I? Sometimes, I can't even see what's happening around me because some spell was cast. When I'm with your family, I don't understand half the words that are being said—because this isn't my world, Lyall. And that had never scared me before because I thought you were on my side. I thought you would be there to keep me in the know, to fill me in, to keep me safe. And then, I trusted you to do the same for our son. And look at him!"

"God, Hope, I'm so sorry," Lyall said.

"Saying you're sorry doesn't fix anything." Hope said coldly. "And it doesn't take away what happened to Remus, or the fact that we nearly lost him. My God, Lyall, if we had lost him..."

She buried her face in her hands. She didn't want him to see him cry—not if it would take away from the burning, red hot rage she felt.

She looked up again and shook her head.

"I thought I could trust you to keep him safe from the things I couldn't—the things I don't know about," Hope said. "And what do we do, now that you haven't? How do we give him the best life possible? How do we make this normal for him? How do we take away some of the pain? Do you know any of those things either? Or have you never worried about monsters?"

Lyall's blank face told Hope everything she needed to know. Something churned in the pit of the stomach and even if her husband, the father of her child, was standing just across from her… Hope felt alone.

A doctor—_Healer, _damnit—appeared in the doorframe.

"Is everything alright here, Mr and Mrs Lupin?" she asked shyly.

Hope sucked in some of her rage. This wasn't their fault, after all, she didn't want to shout at an innocent bystander who had been nothing but kind all evening. And what if she woke Remus?

But the answer to the Healer's question was 'no' and she didn't want to lie either.

So she said nothing and sat down again, her back to the door and her eyes glued to her son.

If nothing else, she'd let Lyall handle this.


End file.
